Town council members expressed shock last week when bids to build an addition to the historic town hall came in at almost $1 million over budget.

Council had estimated it would cost $2.5 million to build the two-storey addition and do renovations to the existing 186-year-old town hall, but the three bids came in at $3.4- to $3.68-million.

Council refused to accept any of the bids. Instead, it asked its architect to negotiate with the lowest bidder, Cupido Construction Ltd., to reduce the price. +VG Architects was asked to report back to council with the result of the negotiations at its Dec. 5 meeting.

“We were very, very disappointed,” said Mayor Erica Demchuk in reference to the bids.

Throughout the design process, the town had stressed to the architect that it wanted a frugal building but somehow +VG didn’t get the message, she said.

“We said right from the beginning that we didn’t want a Cadillac – we can’t afford it – we want a Chevy,” Demchuk said.

The town was looking for a middle-of-the road building, “not junk,” that would last the community for years, she said.

“We’re not the federal or provincial government – we can’t afford the Taj Mahal,” she said.

Demchuk and Councillor Brian Brooks, also on the town hall building committee, stressed that the existing town hall needs renovations, regardless of whether or not the town goes ahead with the addition.

“Doing nothing is not an option,” Brooks said.

Both said the town hall needs immediate work to shore up its leaking foundation and that provincial accessibility regulations require major renovations by 2025.

Demchuk said she has asked the architect to do a breakdown of the tender costs for the renovations and for the new addition.

Brooks said there are obvious ways the architect can work to get the cost down. As an example, he noted the architect called for copper pipes in the addition when plastic is a lot cheaper and just as good. The same thing is true for such fixtures as toilets.

Demchuk said that the tender call included a request for Toto Toilets, instead of American Standard.

“If those are the things in the designer’s specs, no wonder the total is so high,” she said.

Councillor Jan Hayes questioned whether it is fair of the town to change the bid specifications but then negotiate only with the lowest bidder, instead of all the companies.

She noted that the bids were very similar: Cupido came in at $3.4 million, ASCO Construction at $3,452,000, and Bradford Construction at $3,680,000.

Shellee Fournier, chief administrative officer, said the tender contract allows the town to negotiate with the lowest bidder. If those talks are unsuccessful, the town would have to go back out to tender with the new specifications, she said.

The town’s tender called for a 9,106 square foot addition to the existing 7,599 sq.ft. building along with renovations to the old building.

Councillor Jeff Girling, who has opposed the addition in favour of the town using existing buildings instead, urged council to take the time to look at other options.

While negotiating with the contractor, the town could also have a committee explore other ideas, Girling said.

“I don’t want to sound like Jeffrey Downer here, but the fact is that this has come in at way more than we thought and this is one of those situations where I fear we’re going to have buyer remorse,” Girling said.

Councillor Anne Warren floated what she admitted is an “outrageous” idea: What would be the cost of tearing down the 1831 town hall and building a modern building, similar in looks, in its place?

“I know: it’s outrageous, but what are we faced with going down the road?” she asked.

Everybody in town loves the old town hall, Warren conceded, but its foundation is crumbling and it needs other major upgrades as well.

“We have to face reality someday, and I think it would be a lot cheaper to just start from scratch,” she said.

Other council members quickly dismissed the idea, with Demchuk noting that the town hall is protected under heritage laws.

Council held its meeting to decide the tenders at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Although opposition to the addition has been growing on social media, only two members of the public showed up to the meeting.

Girling and Councillor Dwayne Fletcher voted against renegotiating the bid, while the rest of council was in favour.